


A Personal Matter

by Impala_Chick



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shadow World Setting (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Crossover, Dialogue Heavy, Feelings Realization, Half-Human, Horns, M/M, Texting, Walk Into A Bar, Warlock Marks (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Warlock Shane Madej
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24831205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/pseuds/Impala_Chick
Summary: Shane is half-demon, half-human. His blood makes him a Warlock, and he's got the warlock marks to prove it. He joins Buzzfeed fully intending to forget all about his heritage and the Downworld.But Ryan makes that impossible.So while he's in New York for a shoot, Shane asks Isabelle Lightwood for advice.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 18
Kudos: 88
Collections: A Ficathon Goes Into A Bar





	A Personal Matter

**Author's Note:**

> For intoabar 2020. The prompt was Shane Madej walks into a bar and meets... Isabelle Lightwood.

Shane didn’t make a habit of meeting with Shadowhunters or Downworlders. He liked to keep his mundane life and his Downworlder life completely separate. In fact, he’d been avoiding anything to do with the Downworld ever since he started at Buzzfeed.

But that old life had found him anyway. He needed the help of a Shadowhunter, and the first person he’d thought of had been Isabelle Lightwood.

He noticed some people looking up at him as he walked into The Hunter’s Moon, but all of the faces just looked mildly curious. He wasn’t so famous in Downworlder circles. Maybe because none of them watched Youtube. Or if they did, they probably weren’t very interested in a show that dealt with mundane questions regarding the supernatural. After all, all of the people in The Hunter’s Moon already knew what was true and what wasn’t. 

The bartender, a werewolf with a scar on her neck, approached him as soon as he took a seat at the bar. He didn’t recognize her, but she walked with the confidence of someone who was in her element. 

“Is this your place?” He asked as he put his hands on the bar.

“For the most part. Are you here to meet with Isabelle?” The woman put a towel over her shoulder and grabbed a glass.

“News travels fast around here,” Shane said awkwardly, not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she knew why he was there. 

“You know, you don’t have to be glamoured in here,” she said as she poured him a finger of whiskey.

“Oh, I…” Shane trailed off as he thought about it. He’d been glamouring himself for so long that it didn’t even occur to him to show his true form. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You can tell what I am?” 

The bartender laughed. “No, but I know you aren’t a mundane. I’m Maia, by the way. And this is on the house.”

“Nice to meet you, Maia. I’m Shane. And thanks.” He took a sip of the whiskey as she walked down the bar to talk to another customer.

Shane took a deep breath, and then let his glamour fall away. He reached up to where he knew his two red horns were curling up from the crown of his head. They were still there, but they felt smooth and foreign to Shane’s fingers. Shane had nearly forgotten he had them.

All Warlocks bore some mark, some physical manifestation of their heritage. Having a demon for a Mom wasn’t always easy, but Shane had made peace with it by just trying to forget. The immortality thing was sort of annoying, though. As was the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t cut his horns off or give up being a Warlock. He'd wished he was a mundane countless times, but now that he was older, he knew that line of thinking was pointless.

Shane had moved all the way to Los Angeles to make a new life for himself - one that didn’t involve battling shax demons or keeping Shadowhunters from hurting  
Downworlders. For almost 60 years he fought in the streets of Illinois, trying and failing to come up with some new identity. His life was stagnant until he finally left the Downworld behind. Looking back now, Shane figured he might have been experiencing something similar to a mundane mid-life crisis. He’d joined Buzzfeed to make dumb little video projects and entertain mundanes, and himself. Life became significantly easier as an undercover Warlock. 

Right up until Ryan walked into his life and turned everything upside down. Shane didn’t believe in fate, or any of that mystical bullshit, but it was ironic as hell that Ryan dragged him into a project that hypothesized about the supernatural. It was also deeply unsettling that on his and Ryan’s road trips, Ryan did actually manage to run into some pretty nasty demons on a few memorable occasions.

After Sallie House, Shane had become even more convinced that he needed to stick by Ryan’s side. It wouldn’t do to leave Ryan to his own devices, not when Shane knew exactly what went bump in the night. Shane was rather proud of the charade he’d been able to keep up. Sometimes it was easy, because not every location they visited was haunted and Ryan still got scared shitless every time. But other times, he legitimately feared for Ryan’s safety. Shane wasn’t proud of what he did when he got angry, but anything was better than letting Ryan get hurt.

If Shane was being honest, he would have worked with Ryan no matter the project he proposed. Being around Ryan was invigorating and intoxicating, and Shane was a sucker for Ryan’s smile.

But something had changed at their last shoot, and Shane couldn’t let it go. Not until he at least talked to a Shadowhunter about it. 

Over the last three days, they had been shooting on location at an abandoned insane asylum in New York. On the first day, some movement at the end of a damp, dark hallway had caught Ryan’s eye. Ryan had turned his body too slowly to capture anything on film, but Shane had seen the look in Ryan’s eyes. He’d _seen_ something. Something real. Shane had recognized it on site as a Moloch demon, a human-sized one with a body made of thick oil. It’s translucent jelly legs, spindly arms, and deadly claws had only been visible for a moment, but Shane spent the rest of the night steering Ryan clear of it.

Shane had laughed it off at the time, and teased Ryan in all of the expected ways. Ryan was shaken up for the rest of the day, but he spoke with a certain conviction, like he knew he was right. After Ryan went to sleep, Shane snuck out of the hotel, went back to the asylum, and sent that demon into the void. It put up a mighty struggle, nearly burning off Shane’s hand in the process.

He’d realized then that something had to be done about Ryan.

“You must be Shane Madej,” a woman said as she slid onto the stool next to Shane. She had long, dark hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. She smiled confidently and rested her elbows on the table. Shane could admit that she was intimidatingly beautiful, even more so in person than in the pictures he’d seen of her.

“And you must be Isabelle Lightwood.” Shane stuck out his hand for her to shake. 

“I am. Glad to finally meet you. Although I still don’t quite understand what I’m doing here.”

“Unfortunately for me, I have a problem that only a Shadowhunter can fix.”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re involved in something a warlock can't fix himself? Sounds like I need a drink for his conversation,” Isabelle said with mild alarm.

Shane hastily shook his head and laughed.

“It’s nothing world ending. Although I understand the New York institute specializes in those kinds of crises,” Shane teased. The New York Institute definitely had a certain reputation. 

“Wow, so you do keep your ear to the ground. I heard you were out of the life entirely.” Isabelle leaned back in her seat.

Shane shrugged. “I have been forcibly dragged back in by a very annoying mundane.”

“Does this mundane have a name?” Isabelle fished.

“Yeah, Ryan Steven Bergara.” Shane wasn’t sure why he felt the need to say Ryan’s full name, but he had always liked the way it rolled off his tongue.

Isabelle hummed and raised her eyebrow again.

“What?” He asked as he crossed his arms in front of him. 

She shook her head slightly and then continued her questioning. “But why come to me specifically?”

“Since I'm in New York, and looking for a Shadowhunter, the first name that came to mind is Lightwood. Well, maybe Alec Lightwood, to be fair. And don't get me wrong, he's changed New York for the better. But I also need someone who understands how to be discreet.”

“You know I don’t keep secrets from Alec,” Isabelle said hastily as she crossed her arms, mirroring Shane’s body language.

Shane wasn’t usually one for mincing words, but he was aware of exactly how powerful Alec Lightwood was. Not to mention, he had the entire New York Warlock contingent behind him thanks to Magnus Bane. It wouldn’t be ideal to have any of them pissed off at him. “No, no. That’s not at all what I’m asking you to do. He just has this reputation for being a bit… frosty. Hard to talk to, if you will.”

Isabelle threw back her head and laughed at that. “Ah, so this is a personal matter.” She uncrossed her arms and gestured for Shane to continue. “I’m all ears.”

“My partner… Uh, I mean, my friend.” Shane shifted awkwardly in his seat. He had no idea how Isabelle was going to take what he had to say next, but she was smiling politely at him and listening, so he ploughed on. “He’s a mundane, but I think he might have the sight.”

“And that’s an issue because?” She drummed her fingers against the bar top, maybe in an effort to get Shane to cut to the chase.

“You don’t understand. Ryan is fragile. And curious as hell. He’s going to figure shit out, and then what? He can’t become a Shadowhunter. It’s way too dangerous.” Shane shuddered at the possibility of Ryan picking their shooting locations in a much more pointed way. What if he actually knew where to find all the worst ghosts and demons that Shadowhunters hunted?

“Okay, hold on a minute. Shouldn’t he get to make that choice?” Isabelle leaned forward in her seat and started accusingly at Shane.

“Maybe? But have you seen our show? I literally follow him around while he hunts for ghosts and demons. There have been some close calls by pure coincidence. That's what he's like without the sight. I can't imagine him _with_ the sight.” Shane took a drink just to have something to do with his hands.

“All of this information just makes me think he should become a Shadowhunter. Then he can spot the real deal. We can help him with the transition,” Isabelle readily volunteered.

“But he also gets so scared. If I tell him that last week he did in fact see a demon, what will happen to him? What if he crumbles under the immense darkness of the world?” Shane swirled the dark whiskey around in his glass. 

Isabelle gently put her hand on Shane’s forearm, and waited until he looked up at her. “It’s just as likely that he won’t. Besides, don’t you know a few memory spells? You could help him forget again.”

Shane exhaled sharply. “I promised myself I’d never mess with his mind like that.”

Isabelle sighed and squeezed Shane’s arm. “Shane, I’m not going to tell you what to do. But I’ve seen seemingly timid mundanes become successful Shadowhunters. Like Clary Fairchild. You’ve heard of her?” Shane nodded, because of course he had. Clary Fairchild had been the talk of the Shadow world and the Downworld for quite a while. 

Isabelle continued. “I don’t know him, but I think you’re not giving Ryan enough credit. He may surprise you.” She took her hand away and pressed her lips together in a small smile. “And trust me when I say that he would want to know. I only know two former mundanes, but I've talked to them about this. People deserve to know the truth. It will just torment him otherwise.”

Shane sighed. She was probably right about Ryan being strong enough to handle it. He was the bravest mundane Shane knew. 

“What are you really afraid of, anyway?” Isabelle asked, probably to interrupt Shane’s awkward silence.

Shane reached up and touched his horns again, and then looked Isabelle in the eye. “If I tell him the truth, I have to tell him the whole truth. About me.”

“Ah, I see.” Isabelle made a clucking sound with her tongue and put her hand on Shane’s forearm again. 

“You do? Because I don’t think I do,” Shane admitted.

“Revealing your true self can be hard. But if he really cares about you, the horns won’t stop him from continuing to do so,” she said gently. 

“But they’re pretty scary. And weird.” Shane knew he sounded dejected, but Isabelle had cut right to the heart of his dilemma. He didn’t want Ryan to think differently of him. Or worse, be _afraid_ of him.

“Shane, think of it this way. If you never reveal who you are, you’ll miss out on the chance for Ryan to love the real you.”

Shane pulled his arm away from Isabelle and took a huge gulp of his whiskey. _Love_? Is that what this feeling was?

“Can Warlocks feel that? I thought it was a mundane emotion.” Shane tried to feign indifference, but his voice came out a little high pitched. 

Isabelle truly looked sad as she studied Shane’s face. 

“Oh, sweetheart. Haven’t you heard of Magnus Bane? Love is possible for all of us. Shadowhunters, Downworlders, mundanes. I think we have that in common, at least.”

“I had planned on just fucking around in a beautiful city for a few years,” Shane said. He fiddled with his hands, clasping and unclasping his fingers. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” 

Isabelle laughed at that. “I didn’t expect to fall for someone either. But it’s not always this scary, I promise. You just have to talk to him.” 

“That’s exactly what I’m most afraid of,” Shane sputtered. By the way Isabelle smiled at him, she seemed to really understand what he was thinking. Maybe she’d been in a similar position before. He felt inclined to take her advice, even though he wasn’t looking forward to telling Ryan.

“So there’s no way to take away the sight now that he has it?” Shane said half-heartedly. He might as well ask what he came to ask.

Isabelle shook her head. “A powerful warlock might be able to make him forget the things he sees, but it can’t be wiped entirely. And you don’t want to do that to him, do you?” 

“No, I guess not. Unless he hates these puppies.” Shane pointed at his horns and huffed out a laugh.

“Hey, none of that. You look devilishly handsome with or without the horns. Trust me on this.” She grinned, and then Shane laughed for real. 

“Thanks, Isabelle. Really. If you’re ever in Los Angeles…” Shane put out his hand, and Isabelle shook it. 

“I’ll look you up. And I hope to meet Ryan someday, too.” She winked at him before hopping down from the bar stool. 

Shane watched as she walked down to the end of the bar and leaned over the counter to talk to Maia. He was really just stalling, though. 

He took his phone out of his pocket to check his messages. He had a text from Ryan.

 **Ryan**  
Where are u? You didn’t answer your hotel room phone. Wanna get dinner?  
_6:34 PM_

There was no time like the present to start telling the truth.

 **Shane**  
Manhattan  
_7:22 PM_

His phone buzzed almost immediately. 

**Ryan**  
WTF? Why? How? We only finished shooting b-roll like an hour ago  
_7:23 PM_

 **Shane**  
I have some things to tell you  
_7:24 PM_

 **Ryan**  
Okay……...  
_7:25 PM_

 **Shane**  
I’ll come over  
_7:26 PM_

 **Ryan**  
I’m worried about you  
_7:26 PM_

 **Shane**  
Don’t be. I’m coming over now.  
_7:26 PM_

Shane locked his screen, tucked his phone into his pocket, and got up from the bar. He took a deep, steadying breath and then glamoured his horns. 

As he was walking out, Maia and Isabelle called out to him.

“Hey, good luck," Maia said with a thumbs up.

“You got this.” Isabelle gave him a small wave.

“Well, in a few minutes I’ll either be very relieved or have one very confused best friend with no memory of the last few days. I’ll let you know which.” 

“I would put money on the former.” Isabelle spoke solemnly, with a conviction that bolstered Shane.

Shane smiled, not sure how else to express how grateful he was for her kind words. 

“Go get your man!” Maia cheered. Shane laughed as a a few patrons turned their heads to look at him. He waved and then ducked into the alley next to the bar. His mind was swirling with possibilities and what-ifs and visions of Ryan's fucking _smile_ , and he wiped his sweaty palms on his chinos. There was only one way he was going to be able to put the matter to rest, he knew that now. All he could do was tell the truth and hope for the best. 

He took a moment to steady himself before he turned his focus to the hotel in up-state New York, where the crew was staying. If he didn't keep his destination in mind, the portal might malfunction. The last thing he needed was to fuck up and get transported somewhere else. 

A blob of shimmering purple light grew in front of him as the portal opened. He gave one last look at The Hunter’s Moon. Maybe, if things went well, he’d take Ryan there. Maia and Isabelle would definitely get a kick out of that.


End file.
